Dr Jamie-Lee Rahiri works as a surgeon and researcher to improve Māori well-being and experiences in healthcare. Throughout her time in healthcare, she has witnessed how vulnerable Māori are within the health system, and she is determined to change this.

Jamie-Lee completed her Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery at Waipapa Taumata Rau, the University of Auckland, in 2014 and then went on to complete her PhD on Māori experiences of weight loss surgery in Auckland. Her studies looked past the medical aspects to understand how the negative societal views of these procedures impact Māori post-surgery.

As Māori surgeons make up less than 1% of the medical workforce, Jamie-Lee also works to build a pro-equity and culturally safe surgical workforce. She has received a $30,000 grant from the Health Research Council to start Te Piringa Kōtuku, an independent Māori surgical research and training institute. This mahi encourages rangatahi to study surgery and for mentors to support them through their studies. Rahiri herself had mentors who supported her and inspired her to pursue surgery.

Jamie-Lee’s recently contributed to a research paper called The Surgical Sisterhood, which recognised that despite a push for diversity in surgery, discussions of gender diversity in surgery still largely exclude Indigenous women. This study follows how mana wāhine and Masi methods support women in the surgical sisterhood through their advanced surgical training.

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Dr Grace Hinepua Walker is a data scientist focusing on changing Indigenous narratives by producing data for Indigenous and minority groups as well as commercialising affordable diabetes management devices.